Heritage

When reading this issue of "The Other Sheep" I found one piece in particular that I thought went along with Robert was saying. It was not necessarily political but was a spiritual issue. The section I chose was written by a missionary from Guatemala, and it was about an experience he had while he was there. A short version of his story was that he encountered a young man bringing his mother (who appeared to be "insane") tied to a chair to a hospital. Sadly, before he can get to the missions hospital she dies. The missionary witnesses seeing the young man carry his now dead mother into the jungle and assumes he buries her in a grave that he made himself. Now, reading this story there does not seem to be anything wrong with it. It is just a sad (probably very common) story. However the problem I had with this is with what he wrote at the end, he said, " My heart was heavy for that boy! I prayed for him. Then I lifted up my heart in gratitude to God for the only difference between that young man and myself was heritage- his was HEATHEN; mine was CHRISTIAN! Yea I have a goodly heritage!" I capitalized those words because that is what he seemed to emphasize in this story, he stated this is such a way as if he was some how superior to this young man based on his religious heritage. I got a sense of elitism in this quotation, almost as if the missionary came into this missions field feeling as if he was superior because he was born and raised Christian. What also bothers me is that quote was that was the ending to his story, with his spiritual superiority!! That is one of the things I believe Robert was hinting at was that some missionaries go into this field with a sense of superiority, whether it is because of their country of origin or because of their already "mature" faith. I did not see a undertone of superiority in all of these entries but I did see it in some. I was really disappointed by this. I know there is always a sense of naivety or uncertainty when it comes to trying to adapt to and learn about a completely new culture, but when a person goes somewhere new they should not go in with a sense of superiority but equality. Having a passion for spreading the Word and helping save souls is not wrong, but going into a country thinking you are automatically superior to them because of your Christianity is a very bad foot to start off on. Humbleness allows a missionary to learn much more than they would if they maintained their elitist attitudes.